It is clear that information communication technology carries with it enormous potential for transforming poor people's lives, connecting them to markets, improving their access to government services, and better enabling them to express their voice in decisions that affect their lives. It is also clear that this potential is as yet unrealized, and unless action is taken, this technology will simply become another tool for exclusion of the poor in economic growth and decision-making. For this effort to spread, it is obvious that the private sector has an important role to play.

Information communication technology is spreading quickly across India, and with this spread has come numerous examples of innovative ways for advancing access and connections of the poor to new and useful technologies. This second annual workshop to be held in Baramati is co-organized by Digital Partners, Media Lab Asia and VIIT.

Creating the Infrastructure for the Future This workshop will explore ways in which information communication technology can be used as a tool for empowering the poor. It will particularly emphasize the role of social entrepreneurs using ICT to open new avenues for the poor in markets, e-commerce, and information sharing, and explore models that are profit-making and financially sustainable.

The workshop will bring together four groups that are critical to advancing progress toward access of ICT for the poor. These include: (1) actors with practical experiences in working for the empowerment of India's poor, including representatives of poor people's organizations, and social and economic entrepreneurs; (2) actors among the donor community and international organizations experienced in implementing projects and generating resources on a large scale, including managers of global programs and foundations, multilateral institutions, and local under-writers of venture capital; (3) IT entrepreneurs and individuals with technical skills, such as innovators in the corporate sector, promoters of digital technology and e-commerce in poor communities, Internet start-ups and incubators from local communities; and (4) government officials at all levels.

This year the workshop will focus on three aspects: 1) hear from the actual beneficiaries of these efforts i.e., poor people that are using this technology and hear from them how ICT has made a difference in their lives; 2) hear from some organizations/entrepreneurs that are developing new and innovative uses of ICT to benefit the poor; and 3) hear from government officials and entrepreneurs as to what they are doing to support the development of ICT for the poor.

Finally at the workshop we will also announce the winners of Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory - projects that have been identified by Digital Partners as innovative and deserve support

DRAFT AGENDA :

Friday May 31, 2002

Opening Day Inauguration and Award Ceremony
Noon - 3:00 pm
Participants assemble in Pune at Blue Diamond (to be determined)

3:30- 7:00 p.m.
Opening reception and Awards Ceremony

3:30 pm
Inauguration and Welcome – Sharad Pawar -- Member of Parliament, R. R. Shah – Secretary of Information Technology GOI, Shashi Ulall,-- Chairman, Digital Partners India

4:00 pm
Keynote Address – Shri Pramod Mahajan, Hon’ble Minister for Communications, Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs (invited)

4:45 pm
Digital Partners Social Enterprise Awards

6:00 – 7:15
Panel Discussion – IT and Governance What State Governments are Doing? Moderated by Robert Schware and Satish Jha – Invited IT Secretaries from several States

7:30 pm
Bus to Baramati

Saturday June 1, 2002

9:00 am Opening Remarks – MLA and DP
Highlights of MLA and DP
10:15 -12:00 Panel 1– Creating Enterprises for Poor Using IT

· Drishtee – Satyan Mishra plus beneficiary *

· SARI -- Joseph Thomas, Elizabeth Alexander, Asan Mohamed, Abdual Razaak*

· Spryance -- Raj Malhotra and Shrikant Inamdar

· Gyandoot (invited)

12:00 – 1:30 pm Lunch
1:45-3:30 pm Panel 2 – Empowering Youth and Gender

· SKS – Sitaram Rao and Ramgama*

· MS Swaminathan Research Foundation -- Subbiah Arunachalam (invited)

· Mitra Mandal – Dr. K. Sane plus beneficiary *

· SEWA – Vinayak Ghatate plus beneficiary*

· Datamation – Chetan Sharma and Gulshan Bano( beneficiary) *

3:30 – 3:45 pm Coffee
3:45 – 5:00 Panel on Why it is important to Support IT Development for the Poor? – Session Chair Michael Best

· Deepak Amin – CEO v-Jungle*

· Samir Bodas – VP Jam Cracker*

· Peter Bladin – Grameen Technology Center*

· Ramesh Jain - CTO Praja Inc.*

· John Sherry – Intel Research*

Keynote Lt. General Arjun Ray*
7:00 Tour
8:00 Dinner – Keynote – Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Media Lab MIT*

Sunday June 2, 2002

9:00 – 9:45 am
Key Note Rama Bijapurkar, Management Consultant*

9:45 – 10:00
Coffee Break

10:00 – 11:45
Panel 4 New Technologies Serving the Poor – Session Chair Satish Jha

· Janani – Neelam Vachani plus beneficiary *

· IASP - Sunil Khairnar plus beneficiary *

· Mobile Internet Kiosk – Dr. Swamy*

· Simputer – Vinay Deshpande (Encore Software) and Aditya Sharma* (Rainbow SAARC Foundation)

· Interactive Voice Response System for Rural Markets – Amol Goje, VIIT*

12:00 – 1:30 pm
Lunch

1:45 – 3:30 pm
Panel 5 – Education and Information Resources -- Session Chair Gopal Rajagopalan

· Global Classmates – Akhtar Badshah and students from Baramati School*

· CARE Udaan Project (Educating Rural Girls Using Technology) – Ritu Kappal*

· Katha – Geeta Dharmarajan (or deputy) and two kids*

· Satyam Computers – Dr. U Balaji plus beneficiary

· SchoolNet India -- Lucknow – Urvashi Sahni and Rammurthy*

3:45 – 4:00
Coffee Break

4:00 – 5:45
Panel 6 –Closing Discussion -- Chair Akhtar Badshah

· Anil Srivastava – AcrossWorld Communications*

· Robert Schware – World Bank*

· Sandy Pentland – MIT Media Lab*

· Ashok Jhunjhunwala – IIT Madras (invited)*

· Stuart Ganes -- Digital Vision Fellowship, Reuters

5:45 – 6:30
Closing Remarks (to be determined)

8:00
Dinner

Keynote – Kiran Karnik -- NASSCOM (invited)

Monday June 3, 2002

8:30 am Participants take bus to Pune for return travel.

* Confirmed Speakers

Conference Sponsors:
Unilever Research UK
Datamation India
Ministry of Information Technology India.